Comic Rack – Batman: Black and White #5

Offering another quintet of black and white Batman tales, Batman: Black and White #5 is anchored by a Two-Face story from Len Wein and artist Victor Ibáñez which features a complicated two-pronged attack, misdirection, and an appearance of Nightwing in his pre-New 52 costume (complete with the fan appreciated finger stripes).

“Hell Night” from Ivan Brandon gives us Batman on one brutal night (with a late twist I don’t quite buy) and beautiful art by Paolo Manuel Rivera. Blair Butler and Chris Weston offer a bizarre story featuring the death of the Caped Crusader (sort of), and Jimmy Palmiotti and artist Andrew Robinson give us a story featuring Bruce Wayne mostly out of the Batsuit finding his “super-power” (but when he does appear as Batman it’s in the classic costume complete with the yellow ellipse Bat symbol).

Although I enjoyed the tone of Keith Giffen and Javier Pulido’s “Cat and Mouse” featuring a crook’s version of his encounter with Batman, it’s probably the weakest of this month’s stories. Worth a look.